The wireless cell phone industry in America has become synonymous with status in a way that has gone under the radar. We interviewed 130+ people across the US to find out why this has become so pervasive, yet unspoken. For our client – a service provider – we highlighted what they can do to be more equitable, while remaining competitive in a market which charges double the rest of the western world. This found us interviewing drug dealers with “burner phones” in LA and parents stretched too thin to afford the big-name brands. For a seemingly docile topic, tensions ran high; people were confronted with their own prejudices towards the importance of having the right phone and the right kind of provider.